Jewish man indicted for attempted firebombing of Arab workers

An indictment was filed in a Lod district court Wednesday morning against a Rehovot man, accusing him of attacking Arab workers and planning to hurl a firebomb at them.

Igor Kaplon, 26, has been charged with multiple crimes, including attempted arson with intent to cause bodily harm and making racist threats.

According to the indictment, on the night of February 14th, the accused attempted to drive out eight Arab workers residing in a storage facility in a Yavneh industrial zone.

Kaplon allegedly hurled stones at the storage facility and demanded the workers vacate the premises. The accused shouted curses and obscenities while attempting to drive the workers out.

Kaplon then hurled stones at the door of an adjoining building, used as a dry cleaning establishment, yelling to a man inside, saying “You employ Arabs – get out!”.

The man inside the dry cleaning store reported the incident to police, while Kaplon continued to shout at the eight occupants of the storage facility, warning them he would burn them if they came out.

“Don’t come out, I’m going to burn you here. I’m going to bring gas.”

The accused then left the scene and prepared a firebomb, filling an empty bottle with gasoline and placing a rag inside the bottle.

By the time he returned to the storage facility, carrying a firebomb and a lighter, two police officers had arrived.

One of the two officers confronted Kaplon, who responded by saying that he planned to burn the workers inside the storage facility, saying he was “tired” of Arabs.

When the officer requested that Kaplon place the firebomb and lighter on the ground the accused complied, but demanded the officers arrest the eight workers.

The officer approached Kaplon, who he said smelled strongly of alcohol, placing him in handcuffs and leading him to the police car. Kaplon physically resisted the officers’ efforts to arrest him and threatened to beat anyone who attempted to take him into custody.